PELAGIUS II., a native of Rome, but of Gothic descent, was pope from 578 to 590, having been consecrated successor of Benedict I., without awaiting the sanction of the emperor, on 27th November of the former year. To make his apologies for this irregularity he sent deacon Gregory, who afterwards became Pope Gregory the Great, as his apocrisiarius to Constantinople. In 585 he sought to heal the schism which had subsisted since the time of Pelagius I. in connexion with the Three Chapters controversy by writing to the bishops of Istria with the exhortation to “avoid foolish and unlearned questions,” but his efforts as a peacemaker were without success. In 588 John, patriarch of Constantinople, by reviving the old and disputed claim to the title of aecumenic patriarch, elicited a vigorous protest from Pelagius, but the decretal which professes to convey the exact words of the document is now known to be false. He died in January 590, and was succeeded by Gregory I.